It may not support social networks such as Facebook or Foursquare, but TweetDeck for iPad is an respectable Twitter reader.

Twitter is one of the premier social networking applications around, but it was designed for use with keyboards and cell phones; to get the most out of the 140-character-or-less micro-blogging movement on your Apple iPad ($829, ), you'll need a solid app designed for the tablet. That's where TweetDeck for iPad comes in; it adds Twitter functionality to Apple's slate in a way that's well-suited for use with the Apple iPad's 9.6-inch display and multi-touch capabilities. It has some minor issues, but if you want a more intuitive, feature-rich experience than what the Twitter Web site provides, this free app is a worthy download.

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TweetDeck for iPad Setup
Fire up TweetDeck for iPad and it asks for information about your Twitter accounts. In this respect, the iPad version of the app is a huge step back from the desktop application, which is interoperable with Facebook, Foursquare, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, and MySpace. That's a shame; even AIM for iPad (Free, ), an instant messenger, can pull in outside social network feeds.

After I logged in with my Twitter credentials, I was presented with the option to go directly to the interface or to sign up to create an universal TweetDeck account that would let me sync created columns across all devices on which I have the app installed. Sync proved problematic as it didn't receive updated information.

Interface and Navigation
The desktop version of TweekDeck improves the Twitter experience by letting users view the live stream, direct messages, lists, and other user-defined columns from one attractive, easy-to-read interface (the browser-based Twitter has one column that displays the main feed). TweetDeck for iPad's interface will look and feel familiar to anyone accustomed to the desktop application, but your experience will vary slightly depending on how you hold the iPad. A vertical orientation sees a bar across the top of the app that lets you search by name, tinker with account settings, refresh the feed, create a new message, and add a column (based on Twitter Lists, Twitter Search, All Friends, Mentions, Direct Messages, and Favorites). In this mode, you can see the All Friends and Mentions columns by defaultyou have to flick to the left to see Direct Messages.

Tapping the name of a column lets you choose the refresh rate (between one minute and ten minutes). I like that I could scroll through the people I follow simply by flicking up or down, and the speed of which is governed by the speed of your gesture. Pulling a column downward reveals a search box. Tapping a contact opens a tweet in the large area above the columns where you can check out the person's name, twitter handle, location, bio, and last tweet. There are icons to reply, retweet, direct message, e-mail, and mark favorite tweets. Opened links appear in the area above the columns, but there isn't enough space to take in the entirety of a page; you must scroll up and down to view page content. You can simply tap "View in Safari" to check out the site in a Web browser.

Turning the iPad to a horizontal orientation affords less vertical space, but it lets you see the Direct Messages feed without flicking. Tapping a contact in this mode opens a menu that lets you reply, retweet, send a direct message, e-mail a tweet, and mark favorite messages, but you can't view profiles, which is a small gripe. Still, the overall experience is smooth and intuitive in both orientations.

Geotagging
TweetDeck for iPad supports geotagging, which lets users add location information to their updates. Enabling geotagging demanded that I first sign into the browser-based Twitter site to activate it in Settings, and then activate the same setting within the app. From then on, all my tweets had location-based information affixed; tapping one of my own tweets opened Google Maps in an information box that accurately displayed my Manhattan location. I liked that I could use multitouch gestures to zoom in and out of the Google Maps image, but I would've liked a more powerful zoom so that I could take the view to street level. Optionally, when composing a tweet, you can tap the map icon to add a clickable Google Maps link, disable geotagging for that individual post, disable geotagging completely, or update your profile location. Tapping the top of a column gives you an option to view the location of the tweets in your stream on a map.

Should You Tweet with TweekDeck for iPad?
TweetDeck for iPad has many fine elementsfrom price to functionalitythat makes it a fine iPad Twitter client if you don't mind the sync issue. Dedicated users of Facebook and other social networks may want to pass, but the Twitter-holic will find a lot to like here.

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About the Author

For more than a decade, Jeffrey L. Wilson has penned gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for a variety of publications, including 1UP, 2D-X, The Cask, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. He now brings his knowledge and skillset to PCMag as Senior Analyst.
When he isn't staring at a monitor (or two) and churning out Web... See Full Bio

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TweetDeck for iPad

TweetDeck for iPad

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